Previous regime's arms deal with Britain revealed

Details of an arms and ammunition deal of previous Rajapaksa regime with Britain worth millions of pounds have been revealed.

According to the defence ministry database Sri LANKAN authorities have purchased British small arms and weaponry valued at least £3m.

Some of the items purchased by Sri Lanka include pistols, rifles, assault rifles, body armour and combat shotguns during the last stages of North East war.

The conflict was the finale of a 30-year conflict with violent Tiger terrorists which resulted in the deaths of between 60,000 and 100,000 people over a four-month period.

The details on Britain’s most recent arms sales revealed that in the three months between July and September last year, the UK approved export licences worth £3.741m, of which just over £3m were military items.

More than £2m of the sales came under the “ML1” label – a category used by the Government to denote small arms and weapons. Export licences were granted on four separate occasions – once in July and three times in August.

In total the Government approved the sale of 600 assault rifles, 650 rifles, 100 pistols and 50 combat shotguns. The sales also included £330,000-worth of ammunition and £655,000 in body armour.